"Day Care Today, Harvard Tomorrow"

This was the phrase out of Jeff's mouth this morning as we made the family trek to Casey's first day of day care. A milestone day for all of us! I don't start my actual fall schedule until after Labor Day but we thought it would be good to get him used to the idea while I am still near by. He will be going 2 days a week while I work, and then we will have the rest of the week at home together. I feel lucky to have this arrangement. Casey will really enjoy the other kids and the activities that day care provides, and I know that I benefit from having something "outside the house" that uses a different part of my brain. I love my time at home with Casey but it's also good to break it up a bit.

The "mommy wars" of staying home vs. working sort of annoy me - this is not a moral issue. My Godmother works tirelessly in Chicago to make affordable and quality child care available to low income families because as she explains, not all moms are designed to be at home all day. She has three lovely (well adjusted) daughters who were in child care because, as she says, "If I had stayed home, one of us wouldn't have made it". Every family has to figure out what is going to work best for them. We are going to try this plan for awhile and see how it goes - stay tuned.

So, the drop off was uneventful. Jeff and I became invisible once Casey noticed the other kids and the toys. The director told us to feel free to call as much as we wanted, and that lots of first timers call quite a lot and that was fine. Well, I thought I would not call, but after lunch I did call. It was 1:15 and I was told that he had just gone down for his nap, after a day of books, puzzles, a snack, a stroller walk, and lunch. She said he went to sleep with no trouble and I was quite relieved. This was the one area I was a little nervous about. We still rock him to sleep for naps and at night (say what you will - some day he will want nothing to do with us and we'll be glad we spent that time when he would let us). She said she rocked him for just a few minutes and he was out. I was really glad she was willing to rock him at all, and extra glad that it worked. When I picked him up, she reported that he slept for 2 hours and had been happily playing outside since then. When I got there, he noticed me and smiled at me and promptly went back to the toy lawn mower he was busy with. A good sign, I decided, that he didn't run screaming across the lawn "Get me out of here!" He continued to play while I gathered his stuff and then he chatted all the way home like he was telling me all about his day. Smile. Apparently, it was a good day.

ps - Thanks Uncle Nicolai and Aunt Cailin for the cool overalls - they are still too long but we can't wait anymore! And welcome home!